


You'll Be Back, Soon You'll See

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Based on the King George the Third Songs, Former Dark Side Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Gen, Hamilton References, Leaving Home, Virgil Leaving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26473363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Janus works through his feelings after Virgil leaves for the final time.  It goes about as well as he expected.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. Remember We Made An Arrangement

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically me interpreting Janus' reaction to Virgil leaving through each of the King George songs from Hamilton. Credit to arya-skywalker on Tumblr for the original name and for giving me the inspiration in the first place.

Virgil hadn’t come back for dinner.

Janus hadn’t expected it to go this far. Yes, their argument last night had been… a lot, and he had expected Virgil to steam angrily in his room all day… but he had at least expected him to be back for dinner. He was starting to get a little—

Well, you know.

But if Janus knew one thing, it was that he was definitely going to let his anxiety get in the way of being angry at Virgil.

He could wait this out. He could be far more patient.

He sat down with Remus and the two of them ate dinner together. Well, Janus ate dinner in the traditional sense and Remus picked up handfuls of spaghetti and detached his jaw in order to get a better reach to put them straight down his esophagus. Remus was aware that Janus and Virgil had had an argument (though he likely wasn’t aware of the scale), so he didn’t comment on Virgil’s missing presence. They both simply acknowledged without voicing it that Virgil needed a night to cool off and then things would go back to normal.

…Except Virgil didn’t show up for breakfast the next day either. Or lunch.

By the time Janus made dinner that evening and Virgil wasn’t there, he decided it was in fact about time that he let go of his pride, if only for a moment, and check on him.

Virgil’s room was in a different part of the mindscape than Janus’ was, which was in the right hallway while Virgil’s was in the left. Janus walked down to where his door had been, but it had clearly been too long since Janus had been to visit, because when he looked he couldn’t find it.

He stood for a moment puzzling before checking the rest of the hallway, sure it had been here. Virgil may have disliked people coming into his room, but Janus was fairly sure he at least remembered where it was. He got a sinking feeling in his chest after he checked the whole hallway, but just to be safe, he checked the other two hallways as well before coming to the definitive conclusion.

Virgil was gone. At first, Janus almost couldn’t believe it, because when Virgil had started spending time with the others they’d made it clear that there were strict boundaries. He ran everything by Janus. He didn’t spend time with them outside of videos. If any of them tried anything, Virgil had to tell him immediately.

Virgil had groaned in exasperation every time they went over these rules. And okay, so  _ maybe _ Janus  _ might _ have gone a little overboard. But it was the others! You couldn’t trust them! What if they were mean to Virgil, or hurt him, or scared him? Virgil was literally Thomas’ anxiety, they could do that pretty easily, right?

But aside from the rules, the point remained that Virgil couldn’t be gone. Not for good. He would be back. He would probably freak out when he realized his door wasn’t in the right place anymore, and come straight to commons freaking out. Then their argument would be forgotten, they could work together and figure it out, get Virgil’s door where it belonged, and everything would go back to normal. All he had to do was wait patiently.

…

So waiting patiently didn’t work.

It was another three days before Remus asked Janus where Virgil was, and by then, Janus had started to accept that Virgil wasn’t coming back, but it’s not like he could say that to Remus.

“He’s staying with the others for a little longer than usual,” Janus lied easily. “He’ll be back.”

Remus accepted that easily enough, and went back to doing whatever he had been doing before, while Janus went back to pacing back and forth in his room.

So Virgil was gone.

That was obviously a problem. Janus couldn’t check on him if he was with the others. He couldn’t make sure he was doing okay. But how was he supposed to get him to come back? Well, he supposed he could send Remus. Maybe he could bring his morning star, whack Virgil over the head if it came to it. He could tell him the others weren’t letting Virgil leave, Remus would buy that. But then Remus would probably hurt the others in anger, and that wouldn’t help Virgil being mad at Janus. So what exactly was his best move here?

He could always just… wait. See how Virgil liked it without any support. He would be back within the week, Janus was sure. How much could he do on his own anyway? He would just have to wait until Virgil remembered that he was one of them, and remembered how good he had it with them, and all that they had gone through together. And then he’d be back.

Janus just had to go back to his original plan of waiting it out. Then Virgil would be the one coming back, complaining about the others and how awful they were. Janus could win this fight, easily. The only thing he had to do was passive-aggressively avoid Virgil, and he was an expert at being passive-aggressive.

This would be easily. Virgil would be back in no time.

Janus gave it a week.


	2. It's Much Harder When It's All Your Call

It took Janus about a month to realize that Virgil really wasn’t coming back.

Remus had gotten it by that point too. Janus tried hard not to think of the moment he saw the realization in his eyes. He had looked at Janus, and the betrayal had been so obvious— to Janus, for lying to him about it (although Janus wasn’t that sure why Remus was surprised, given that he lied all the time), but more to Virgil, for leaving in the first place. Remus had disappeared into his room and Janus hadn’t seen him since.

He was still trying to wrap his head around it. This was exactly what the rules had been for, so Virgil wouldn’t end up getting tricked by the others and abandoning all of them in the process. He had spent another long stretch of time in his room, pacing back and forth and trying hard to fight back tears that he would take to his grave.

It had been at the end of nearly 2 days that Janus had taken a deep breath, gone over the events in his head, and calmly pressed the hurt beneath a layer of anger, because really, who did Virgil think he was? How could he just leave them like that? Did he conveniently forget the years they’d spent being ostracized and ridiculed by the others? Janus seriously doubted they’d stopped just because Virgil had decided to abandon the only people who’d ever cared for him.

And what exactly was Virgil doing now? How was he doing all by himself? Was it easier now that he was free of Janus and Remus, who had apparently been holding him back all these years? Did Virgil have any clue what he was doing?

He’d never been the leader, after all. Janus had always been the one in charge. Virgil had no idea how to deal with Thomas or the others. He’d be making it up as he went along, with no help. Janus certainly wasn’t going to help him, not anymore. And Remus wasn’t going to help him. At least, he didn’t think so, but maybe he really didn’t know people nearly as well as he thought he did, because he had never thought Virgil would do something like this.

Janus walked over to his bed and sat down on it, taking a deep breath and sitting up straighter to try and tense himself up as a way of calming down. He listened once again for Remus just in case he was destroying something in anger, but didn’t hear anything. He hadn't really expected to.

Well, it was all Virgil’s call now. Janus was truly fascinated to see what his next move would be. He could have fun being the complete and total representation of all three of them if he wanted to. Janus doubted it would last very long.

…But then again, that was what he had said last time. So maybe he really didn’t know people as well as he thought he did.

All Janus could say for sure was if and when the others completely rejected him, Virgil better not come crying back to him. He could be on his own for all Janus cared. Which he didn’t.

Janus took a deep breath in and tensed his shoulders up even more. “I don’t,” he said to himself, like if he repeated it enough times it would become true.

He could already hear Virgil saying he really should know better. That he was the personification of deceit for a reason. But what did Virgil know? They’d just established this.

Janus sighed, pushed the hurt further down, and got up to make dinner. He didn’t have enough energy to make anything more than reheated leftovers. Remus certainly wouldn’t mind.


	3. They Will Tear Each Other Into Pieces

So Janus’ reveal had been exactly what he hoped would happen. Everything had gone exactly according to plan.

…Maybe he could still salvage this. What had he learned from this experience?

Well, he hadn’t seen Virgil in years, and  _ wow _ he did not look any different.  And he was one of the others now. Janus hadn’t known something like that was possible. Was Thomas simply going to keep accepting all of the different parts of himself, until there were no “dark sides” left, as Roman put it?

Roman. Now there was an idea. That had been a good starting place. He had been remarkably easy to manipulate and it had almost led to the success of his plan. He could definitely continue to  _ nudge _ Roman in the direction he wanted him to go without too much effort. It was quite possible that he could help his goals in a very big way.

His goals. They needed some realigning. So what could his new goal be?

It was beginning to come clear that Thomas was starting to head down a dangerous path that led to an overabundance of selflessness and a lack of proper self care. Janus needed to teach him some kind of lesson about that before it became a real problem. But it was not very likely he would be listened to, not with the others hating him so much and Roman calling him a “Scooby-Doo villain.”

So how could he get himself to be listened to?  How had Virgil done it? Become one of the others? Was it possible that he and Remus could too? Could he maybe be next?

It would certainly be easier to get Thomas to listen to him if he wasn’t viewed as an antagonist. And going back to Roman… he could be useful there. He was Thomas’ passion and hopes and dreams, that could be a natural tie to self-preservation and going after things one wanted for oneself. It was not unlikely that Roman’s goals would align with Janus’ own quite often.

That could once again be an excellent place to start.

Janus looked out at the others from his spot from behind a wall— one of the benefits of being revealed to Thomas. He now had access to the main set of commons. They were all in the middle of a clearly very tense conversation. Everyone was trying very hard not to look at Virgil, who was trying just as hard not to look at anyone else while staring silently at the ground. Patton was attempting to laugh the whole situation off, Logan was appearing to try to move on (with considerably less laughing), while Roman was attempting to say something about the matter, and getting cut off either gently by Patton, dismissively by Logan, or almost angrily by Virgil.

Janus smiled to himself just a little bit as he sunk back to the more familiar commons.

Remus glanced down from where he was dangling from the ceiling by his tentacles. “So how’d the video go, Jay-anus?”

Janus chuckled a little bit. “Well, I was revealed to not be Patton, and Thomas knows about us now. Well,” Janus corrected. “He doesn’t know about you specifically, but he knows there are more of us than just me.”

Remus gave Janus a curious look. “Then why are you grinning, Jan?”

Janus chuckled again. “Remus, they are going to rip each other to shreds,” he said in amusement.

Remus beamed as he detached his tentacles and dropped from the ceiling. “Oh Jesus Christ Superstar, this will be fun,” he said with a manic grin. “Where are you gonna start?”

“Do you have any qualms about me messing with your brother, Remus?”

“Why Janus, I’m offended you need to ask.  _ Of course not.” _


	4. You Stand Only For Yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus: Janus and Virgil's argument based on Your Obedient Servant.

It wasn’t often that Janus ever found his way into the other’s side of the mindscape. It was notoriously hard to break into, especially since they found a new way to block their every attempt. So to be summoned there by Patton was something so laughable Janus would have assumed it was one of Remus’ weakest ideas.

So when it happened that Janus was summoned there to find Logan, Patton, Roman, and  _ Virgil _ all already looking at him, you couldn’t blame him for floundering for a few seconds.

Patton looked more than a little apprehensive, Logan looked rather indifferent, which was usual for him, Roman looked lit up with hope and determination, and Virgil looked… well, about how you’d expect.

“Anxiety?” he asked, taking care not to use Virgil’s name. “What are we doing here exactly?”

“We have to talk about something,” Virgil said, walking over to stand at Janus’ side. “And it involves both of us.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Well, I am not at all fascinated to see where this goes,” he said, adjusting the front of his cape. “Since the two of us are so often involved in important conversations.”

“Thomas is in love!” Roman declared happily.

“Okay, slow down kiddo,” Patton said, holding a hand out towards Roman. “Thomas is considering coming out to a boy he likes.”

Janus glanced at Virgil, who was already looking very tense.

“Well, naturally that is an excellent idea,” Janus said immediately. “There is absolutely no chance of it going horribly wrong. Have any of you even considered the possible consequences?”

“Of course we have,” Patton said.

“Yeah, he could be straight or ignorant and therefore weirded out and confused or just plain homophobic,” Virgil muttered from next to him. “Or he could out Thomas to other people.”

“Precisely,” Janus said, crossing his arms. “So if you really wish to ruin Thomas’ life, I’d say go right ahead.”

“There is always the possibility that it could also go well,” Logan said. “Let us not try and say that there is only one outcome here.”

“Oh yes, and the interaction going well is far more likely. We know nothing about his stance on the LGBTQ community or if he’s even aware of its existance, as Anxiety just pointed out.”

“I never said anything about which event was more likely,” Logan said. “I simply presented another option.”

“Well, the correct option in this instance is certainly not obvious, so—”

“Deceit,” Virgil said. “I’m with them.”

Janus stopped talking. He turned and gaped at Virgil for another couple seconds, trying to process what he was hearing. “What do you mean you’re with them?”

“I think Thomas should tell him,” Virgil said quietly. “He’s going to have to come out sooner or later.”

“So why not  _ later?” _ Janus asked in bafflement, because how was that not what Virgil was thinking? How in the world was he not freaking out about this?

Janus paused and took in Virgil for another second, and realized he  _ was. _ But there was a firm look of determination overlying the fear.

“We already think that so many of his friends are starting to suspect it,” Virgil said. “And I think…” He bit his lip. “I think you’ve been swaying this decision for far too long, Deceit.”

Janus stared at Virgil in bafflement. So that was what was really going on here. Virgil was sick of Janus making all the decisions. But why would he not simply  _ tell him that, _ instead of… undermining him like this?

Janus looked around the room to see everyone was looking at him.

Four against one. With Virgil on his side, he might have been able to pull through, but… Virgil was with  _ them. _

Janus knew when he was beaten. “Very well, go ahead and make a mess of things,” he said simply, and sunk back out, not even taking the time to look around the other’s versions of the commons.

What had just happened? Janus could count the number of times they had been summoned for a conversation about Thomas on one hand, and Virgil had decided to side with the others just to… take away power from Janus? When he had so little to begin with.

Janus felt it when Virgil came back to the commons, and Janus immediately followed him and appeared in the main room. “What was that?” he said, trying hard to keep his voice calm.

Virgil jumped a little and spun around to face Janus. “I agreed with their decision,” Virgil said. “I already said that.”

“You agreed with their decision in order to go against me,” Janus hissed. “Since when is that how we operate?”

Virgil glared. “Well, I never saw anything in the rules about ‘us’ always having to agree with each other either!”

“That’s not how this works, Virgil! We have to move as a unit or they will simply divide us!”

“So you get to make all the decisions about what all of us think?!” Virgil snapped.

“If you disagreed we should have talked about it beforehand! You completely blindsided me! How do you ever expect any of them to trust me again now?”

“I’m not the reason they don’t trust you, Janus!” Virgil screamed, and Janus was suddenly questioning how they got this angry this quickly. “You never tell them anything! You never tell  _ anyone _ anything! Maybe if you tried working  _ with _ other people instead of just assuming you were right all the time right out of the gate, maybe people would actually listen to you!”

Janus tired to hide his shock, because this was clearly something Virgil had been sitting on for a long time. Why had he not simply mentioned this before? “Stop screaming, Virgil.”

“Make me!” Virgil did pause though, and took a breath. “I don’t want to fight with you Janus,” he said. “But I’m not going to apologize for sharing my opinion.”

“Your opinion?” Janus asked. “You’re not going to take it back, then?”

“I meant it,” Virgil hissed. “I think it’s the best choice for Thomas, and I’m not going to back down from that.”

“I don’t see how I’m supposed to work with you if you’re going to start constantly siding with the others.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t then,” Virgil said, and then paused.

Janus blinked at Virgil. “What is that supposed to mean? Do you expect me to be okay with you hiding out in your room all day?” He could be angry at Virgil and still want to see him. If Virgil was gone all of the time, eventually… Janus would miss him.

But Virgil seemed to take that the wrong way. Something in his face shifted that Janus couldn’t read, and he simply said “I guess you’ll find out,” before sinking out to his room.

“Virgil!” Janus snapped. “Virgil, come back here!”

There was no response. Janus sighed. Virgil could be remarkably petty. He supposed that was something they had in common.

Very well. He could wait this out. Virgil would be out of his room by tomorrow when he got hungry. They could talk things out then.


End file.
